Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy confronted Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during Thursday’s press briefing, disputing President Joe Biden’s claim that inflation was worse everywhere outside the United States.
Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre on the president’s claim several times — noting that inflation rates were actually higher in several other countries — prompting Jean-Pierre to revert immediately to what appeared to be the White House’s proscribed talking point on the topic.
WATCH:
DOOCY TIME: "Why is [Biden] saying that inflation is worse everywhere but here?"
KJP: "B/c of what we have seen across the globe. First of all, inflation is a global challenge, as we have said. It is–it is–it is–it is caused by, clearly, the pandemic…and also…the war" pic.twitter.com/3UPQnVjYPL
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 16, 2022
“Why is the president saying that — pardon — why is the president saying that inflation is worse everywhere but here?” Doocy asked.
“Because what we have seen across the globe,” Jean-Pierre began. “First of all, inflation is a global challenge, as we have said. It is — it is — it is — it is caused by, clearly, the pandemic, this once in a generation pandemic that we are coming out of. And also most recently the war that — that Putin started in Ukraine that has caused inflation as we looked at food and as we looked at gas prices.”
“So if you look at globally, other countries, and if you look at where we are economically, when you think about the Group 7, the G-7, we are in a much stronger place than we are economically than the rest,” Jean-Pierre replied.
Doocy immediately pushed back, listing several countries that were facing higher inflation rates than the United States.
WATCH:
Doocy: "He says…inflation is worse everywhere but here. That's not true. U.S. has worse inflation than Germany, France, Japan, Canada, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia…Why is he saying that?"
KJP: "Well, I think what we are saying is…it is a global thing…everyone is feeling" pic.twitter.com/FW46GK1LH0
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 16, 2022
“He says that inflation is worse everywhere but here. That’s not true,” Doocy objected. “U.S. has worse inflation than Germany, France, Japan, Canada, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia. So why is he saying that?”
“Well, I think what we are saying is that when you talk about inflation, it is a global thing,” Jean-Pierre made no effort to address Doocy’s rebuttal and instead simply repeated her initial statement. “And it is not just about the United States, this is something that everyone is feeling — because of coming out of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, because of the war that Russia has started in Ukraine.”
According to Pew Research, the United States ranks 19th on a list of 36 nations in terms of the change in annual inflation rate between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2022. Of the top five nations, Israel ranks highest followed by Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal — and all five have seen their annual inflation rate increase by a factor of at least ten between 2020 and 2022.